The art of coating small particles (buttons, pills, candy, etc.) is an old one. For example, Wathew in U.S. Pat. No. 59,325 (1866) described a rotating confection pan in which almonds, for example, were coated with sugar. Smith in U.S. Pat. No. 111,882 (1871)described a rotating cylinder in which buttons were coated with varnish. Similarly, Upjohn in U.S. Pat. No. 312,041 (1885) described a rotating pan in which pills were coated with sugar. In each of the foregoing examples, the particle-containing vessel was rotated on an axis which forms an acute angle with a horizontal plane.
Improvements in the art took the form of relatively more complicated devices wherein the particle-containing vessel was rotated about either a vertical or horizontal axis, with provision for turning the plane of the vessel for purposes of dumping the contents. An example of such devices is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,095,326 issued to Green et al in 1963.
Small volume usage of such devices, as would occur in the case of coating popcorn in the home or at a theatre refreshment stand, is precluded by the relative complexity of even the early devices. A particularly unsatisfactory characteristic of all devices of the art is not only that the vessel is not readily removable from the device but the parts of the device which require regular cleaning are not readily separated from each other.
It is a specific object of the present invention to provide a device which can be disassembled in a matter of seconds.